Arts Festivals Summit 2019

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EFA Festival in Focus | International Izmir Festival

Simon Mundy, in interview with Filiz Sarper, Artistic Director of the International Izmir Festival looks at the festival’s history and current success

The
cities that lie on the western coast of Anatolia are so ancient that you have
to come through an awful lot of names of kingdoms and empires before you come
to modern Izmir in ingénue Turkey. Homer was probably born there, at a time
when the fall of Troy a little further north was no further back than the start
of the Renaissance is to us. In his age Izmir was an independent city state,
rather in the shadow of the more famous Ephesus eighty kilometres to the south,
which had been the capital of the kingdom of Arzawa and by Homer's time was a
member of the Greek Ionian League. Then the Lydian empire came, then the
Persians and eventually Alexander the Great.

Not so
long ago really. After him the kingdom of Pergamon took over for a while, then
Alexander's descendants in Egypt before the Romans were left in charge and
decided the city's name was Smyrna (Marcus Aurelius had it rebuilt after a
massive earthquake in 178 AD). For Europeans that remained the name until post-Ottoman
Turkey adopted the Latin alphabet at the end of the 1920s and it was changed to
the present Izmir. Elgar wrote a charming piano piece called In Smyrna during a visit in 1905. Amazingly, in 1920 the
population was half Greek, half Turkish.

International Izmir Festival | Mischa Maisky & Kremerata Baltica

Do we
need to know all that when discussing its early summer festival? Well, yes –
because the festival was started thirty years ago as much to make use of the
area's astonishing ancient venues as to bring in the highest quality music and
theatre. When you listen to an orchestra in the amphitheatre you have the same
view as when St. Paul addressed (rather unkindly) the Ephesians. One result of
his little talk was that the Christians in Ephesus pulled down much of the
temple of Artemis and Kybele a couple of centuries later, a period of
intolerance thankfully rare in the region's history. At the Izmir Festival the
world's best orchestras use the few columns that remain as a stunning backdrop.

Back in
the modern and sprawling town of Izmir, the third largest in Turkey, the
festival makes use of the relatively new concert hall and arts centre, as well
as the open air theatre (not quite as grand as the one in Ephesus which, the
largest in the Roman Empire, seated 25,000) the churches and the Ottoman era
castle. “We use the streets too,” says Filiz Sarper, the artistic director who
has been with the festival since it was started with her uncle in 1987. “We
wanted to bring back the open spirit and all the identities that have been living in these cities' for so many centuries.”

However, these are not easy
times in the Aegean. The economics of the last few years have made funding
harder to find. Downturns in currency values have also made bringing in
top ensembles more expensive. Some of the initiatives that the festival
prided itself on in the early years, such as the joint productions of ancient
plays with the National Theatre of Greece in the theatre at Ephesus, have
become more difficult since 2010, partly because of economic constraints. “So
many people used to come over from the Aegean islands but not now.” Just
as worrying has been the downturn in the number of tourists visiting Turkey,
put off by security and political concerns. “The audience used to be 60% from Europe
and the rest of the world,” says Filiz, “now, sadly, it is much less. We hope
that changes back again soon.” She emphasises the point that the atmosphere of
the festival is open and welcoming.

The flow
of orchestras and musicians from outside Turkey is important to the festival
because its local audience has a satisfactory diet of good local musicians all
year round. “Our aim is to introduce them to different groups, and the best,
that they do not have a chance to hear otherwise.”

It might
seem masochistic to listen to concerts in the heat of the Turkish summer but
Filiz says it makes more sense than one might imagine. “So much of the point of
the festival is to use the historic venues which are in the open air so it has
to be in summer. But we don't usually start until 9.30 at night so the worst of
the heat is over and it is pleasant to sit out in the late evenings.” She adds
that her tourist audience has, by that time, had a chance to relax after the
sightseeing or recover after a day on the beaches. However, even the climate
seems to be less certain now. “We have begun to have rain sometimes in June,
which never used to happen.”

International Izmir Festival | Viyana senfoni

The
festival is well aware that it has a duty to Turkish music as well as its
visitors. Every two years it hosts a competition for young Turkish composers.
For 2018 the task is to write a piano concerto to be performed by the Izmir
Symphony Orchestra. The deadline is the end of January so anyone starting now
(at the end of 2017) will need to write at Prokofiev's speed. The foundation
that organises the festival also has a collection of over three hundred
instruments from the region and near east, and a small museum to exhibit and
perform in during the year. In co-operation with the University of the Aegean
it is working on reconstructions of music making – a Turkish equivalent to
Europe's early music movement.

Despite
all the disincentives of these years, the Izmir Festival offers a wonderful
fusion of ancient architecture and music from more recent times. Much more importantly
it constantly demonstrates the continuity of culture on the shores of the
Aegean – empires, kingdoms and politicians come and go but civilisation
recovers and its arts are undiminished.

International Izmir Festival | Shuman'ın Büyüsüne Yolculuk

Further Information on the International Izmir Festival | Izmir & Ephesus

The International Izmir Festival reaching an audience expressed in millions has been proudly providing opportunities to numerous world renowned artists to perform at unique historical venues. As a festival of great prestige and high artistic standards, it has been organised in Izmir, a city located on the Aegean Coast and right in the middle of several historical places and popular touristic resorts of Turkey. The festival covering a wide spectrum of classical, traditional and contemporary works in music, ballet, theatre and opera including both international and national performances, has proved itself to be one of the cultural and intellectual corner stones of Turkey, attracting great attendance from locals and foreigners visiting Turkey alike. From its first inception, the festival has made a special effort to make the Ancient city of Ephesus, which is one of the best preserved antique cities of the world, and other historical heritage sites of Izmir to be included among its venues. The Ephesus, where the festival holds performances is listed as a UNESCO site.